Record Description

The collection consists of a name index and images of the Merchant Seamen schedules from the 1930 U.S. federal census. The index is provided by Ancestry.com and corresponds to NARA publication: M1932: 1930 Census of Merchant Seamen.

The schedules consist of large sheets with rows and columns.

The following chart lists states with registered vessels which are listed in this census:

Alabama

California

Connecticut

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Indiana

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

Ohio

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

Texas

Virginia

Washington

Wisconsin

Federal census takers were asked to record information about all those who were on a vessel on the census day, which was April 1 for this census. The completed forms were then sent to the Census Office of the Commerce Department in Washington, D.C.

This information pertains to individuals and crew members of vessels on April 1, 1930.

The U.S. federal census has been taken at the beginning of every decade, beginning in 1790, to apportion the number of representatives a state could send to the House of Representatives. In the absence of a national system of vital registration, many vital statistics and personal questions were asked to provide a statistical profile of the nation and its states.

Federal censuses are usually reliable, depending on the knowledge of the informant and the care taken by the census enumerator. Some information may have been incorrect or deliberately falsified.

Record Content

1930 Census of Crew

The 1930 census includes the following information:

Full name

Sex

Race

Age (can be used to calculate an approximate birth year)

Marital status (single, married, widowed, or divorced)

Able to read and write

Naturalized citizen or alien

If able to speak English

Occupation

Whether a military veteran

Address of spouse or next of kin

How to Use the Record

To begin your search you will need to know

The name of your ancestor

Other identifying information such as age

Search the Collection

To search the collection fill in the requested information in the boxes on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the individuals in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at the information on several individuals comparing the information about them to your ancestors to make this determination.

As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

Keep in mind:

If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.

Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

Using the Information

When you have located your ancestor in the census, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. For example:

Use the age listed to determine an approximate birth date. This date along with the place of birth can help you find a birth record. Birth records often list biographical and marital details about the parents and close relatives other than the immediate family.

Use the race information to find records related to that ethnicity such as records of the Freedman’s Bureau or Indian censuses.

Use the naturalization information to find their naturalization papers in the county court records. It can also help you locate immigration records such as a passenger list which would usually be kept records at the port of entry into the United States.

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